The detention chamber was dim, its walls lined with shelves of dust-covered tomes. A single candle burned on each desk, its wax dripping into shallow grooves carved for the purpose. The air was still, heavy with the smell of ink and parchment.
Selora stood at the front, her staff leaning against the wall.
"You will write stanzas," she said flatly. "Order born from chaos. Lines that test patience and discipline. When I return, I expect them complete. Do not test me further."
Her gaze pinned both boys, sharp as iron. Then, without another word, she swept from the room, her robes whispering across the floor as the door shut behind her.
Silence.
Jordan dipped his quill into ink, trying to focus, his hand trembling still from the memory of Jayden's scythe. He wrote a clumsy first line, ink blotching the parchment.
Jayden broke the silence with a low scoff.
"You're pathetic, Walker. Still shaking over nothing."
Jordan didn't look up.
"Nothing? You almost killed me."
Jayden leaned back in his chair, his smirk sharp.
"That was the point. I wanted you to feel it. To know I could. Now answer me—why were you in my dream?"
Jordan clenched his quill, staring at the ink bleeding across parchment.
"I don't know. I swear it. I didn't mean to be there."
Jayden slammed his palm against the desk, the sound cracking through the chamber.
"Liar. No one just stumbles into my domain."
Jordan looked up at him then, eyes fierce.
"If I knew how it happened, don't you think I'd tell you?!"
For a moment, silence stretched taut between them. Then Jayden scoffed again, shaking his head. He rose, pacing. His gaze drifted along the wall, where an archway of stone had been sealed shut with age. Above it, faint letters glimmered, etched into the stone:
ASTRIA → ASTROLIA
Jayden tilted his head, stepping closer.
"What is this?"
Jordan frowned, following his gaze. "I… I don't know. I've never seen that before."
Jayden moved toward it. As his hand hovered near the stone, the letters blazed brighter, runes crackling with dormant power. The air rippled, a faint hum filling the room.
The sealed archway shuddered. Light pulsed within its cracks.
A portal began to stir.